Trustfall || Sanders Sides Equestrian AU

Chapter 33 - How to Breathe

2 hours earlier

Considering the reasonable amount of stress that had been pressuring his chemically-imbalanced brain, Virgil was surprisingly smiley as he walked home. Whenever he sank too deep into his own head Roman's eyes would glint in his mind, accompanying that golden smile he'd had on that morning, and Virgil would have to stifle an idiotic smile. His entire life he'd been so used to getting completely drained by interacting with people, that getting used to feeling even more energetic after spending time with him was an absolute shock to his system. The good kind of shock. There's a good kind of shock? Yeah, probably. The good kind of shock, then.

Virgil shook his head as if it would clear his mind, but it did nothing but make him dizzy. He caught himself in time not to tumble onto the main road. Perhaps it would be smarter to walk on the farther side of the sidewalk today.

So now all that was left was pick Emma up from her friend's house, make her dinner, and then surely he'd be able to gather an hour or two to spend with Everest.

Today was a good day.

Virgil plugged his earphones in and settled deeper inside his hoodie. He felt almost adventurous today; and so he shuffled the playlist instead of playing it in its usual order. The unknown was getting less and less scary. A jet-black crow stared at him from where it perched on a lonely bench as he walked by. Virgil hummed peacefully, and allowed his heartbeat to fit the song.

Today was truly, a good-

The song paused automatically to make way for his ringtone when it came through. Virgil felt around his pocket distractedly for his phone. For the first time in his life, today he wasn't exactly nervous about receiving a phone call. He yawned and unplugged his earphones; there was something about talking on the phone with earphones that felt almost illegal.

The contact displaying in bright white was a first for him. "Katy's mom." A bizarre nausea climbed up his throat. Something chilly – almost like cold fingers – wrapped around his neck.

"Hello?"

"Virgil?"

The voice on the other end was hasty and the slightest bit distorted. He would have let himself believe she was running if it made any sense. Virgil battled back the ominous feeling that chased his peace away. "Yeah? Is everything-"

"This is Katy's mom. You sister's friend?"

Virgil hadn't realised he'd stopped in his tracks. The crow watched silently, curiously, as if awaiting his reaction.

"What's going on?"

"They- they must have taken it a bit too far when they played outside... Emma started to have a seizure, she-"

The nausea deepened so abruptly that it tore his stomach in half. "What?? Where is she right now, what did you-"

"We're at the hospital. Your mother wasn't picking up, you're her secondary emergency contact so I-"

Whatever she said next, Virgil would never know. The demon at the back of his mind charged to clutch the wheel and wouldn't let go, and a wave of roaring thoughts drilled through his burning head.

Get a fucking hold of yourself. You can't get to her if you're busy having a panic attack in the middle of the street.

Virgil clung on to the harsh, conscious thought as if it were his lifesaver in this middle of a stormy, bottomless ocean. In a way it was. And clutching onto it as tightly as he could, he set off.